God made and governs the world invisibly, and has commanded us to love and worship him and no other God; to honor our parents and masters, and love our neighbours as ourselves; and to be temperate, just, and peaceable, and to be merciful even to brute beasts.
My parents, Arthur and Olwen, were honest, working-class people who raised my brother Arthur, sister June, and me with the values of that era – patriotism, stoicism, honesty, concern for your neighbours, and judging a man by what he did rather than what he had.
London thrives because it is one of the most open cities in the world, but Brexit is shutting the door on talented people coming to live and work here – the people we need when we get sick, the ones we see on the Tube, our friends and neighbours. Even worse, it has made London a less tolerant place.
When my husband is away and I’m by myself, my neighbours will insist I eat with them every single night because they see it as unhealthy to eat by yourself.
Growing up, I was always adamant that I would never do ‘Home and Away’ or ‘Neighbours,’ because as an actor you want to set your path as that serious kind of actor.
It was never a case of male and female when I was growing up. I played with my cousins, my friends. From a young age, I played on the local streets, just with my neighbours. The majority would be boys, but a couple would be girls, so I never really thought too hard about it.
You would probably think that rock music is an urban phenomena, but the main reason for doing it in ’68 was so that we could play music very loud any time of the day or night without getting complaints from the neighbours.
Our village is very small, so I wasn’t surprised when I heard some negative comments from my neighbours on my interest in sports. But nothing mattered, as I always knew what I was doing and why I was doing it.
A civic-minded nation is built by civic-minded neighbourhoods, whether in our cities or our villages. Where we respect the next-door person’s space, privacy and rights. Where we do not inconvenience our neighbours – while celebrating a festival or while resorting to a protest or on any other occasion.
I play the piano. I bought an upright piano that is actually electric, so I can practice my scales with headphones on and not make my neighbours’ lives hell!
I played a paraplegic on a show called ‘Neighbours.’ Just turned up on set, sat in a wheelchair. The producer came up to me one day and said, ‘We have to cut around that entire scene because your leg was moving.’
